Church Angry at Polish Coffin Maker’s Use of Topless Models in Calendar

The Catholic church is condemning a Polish coffin-maker who included topless models posing next to caskets in its 2013 coffin calendar. The 2013 coffin calendar, which is for sale on the website of Lindner's Warsaw-based company, uses one image of a woman dressed only in a thong standing next to a casket with a snake around her neck. Another image portrays a woman in a corset ripping the heart out of a man atop a coffin.

Linder has used suggestive images in previous versions of the calendar, but 2013 marks the first time the models have been partially nude. While the church is in an uproar over what it perceives is the coffin-maker's light treatment of death, Zbigniew Lindner, the firm's owner, is all 'whatevs.'

"We wanted to show that a coffin isn't a religious symbol. It's a product. Why are people afraid of coffins and not of business suits, cosmetics or jewelry?"

Well, Z-BRO-niew, we're not psychologists, but that whole death thing being so closely associated with coffins might have something to do with the fear people have of them.

The church, which still has a strong presence in Poland, is not amused. It thinks "human death should be treated with solemnity and not mixed up with sex." Admittedly, it is hard to argue that you shouldn't mix up dying with having sex. Ever.

While Linder offered no further insight into his marketing strategy, perhaps he feels it's time someone put the FUN back into funeral? It just goes to show you that one person's role playing is another's business model.